Focus on 'Make In India' as Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gets ready to launch 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat Saptah' on August 10

In an apparent effort to push Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make In India' initiative, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will launch 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat Saptah` on Monday (August 10). The event will take place at 3.30 pm on Monday, tweeted the Office of the Defence Minister of India.

Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh will launch ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat Saptah’ at 3.30 pm tomorrow. #AtmaNirbharBharat

— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) August 9, 2020

On Sunday (August 9), Singh had announced that the Defence Ministry will impose import embargo on 101 defence items beyond given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production. Singh had asserted that the move is a big step in making India self-reliant (Atma Nirbhar) in defence sector.

In a series of tweets, Singh had said that the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 has also been bifurcated by the Defence Ministry between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes. He added that a separate budget head has been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in 2020.21. 

"The Ministry of Defence is now ready for a big push to #AtmanirbharBharat initiative. MoD will introduce import embargo on 101 items beyond given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production," Singh had tweeted.

The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation. — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 9, 2020

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call for a self-reliant India based on the five pillars, i.e., Economy, Infrastructure, System, Demography and Demand and announced a special economic package for Self-Reliant India named `Atmanirbhar Bharat`," he had said in another tweet.

"MoD has also bifurcated the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes. A separate budget head has been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year," he had tweeted.

"Almost 260 schemes of such items were contracted by the Tri-Services at an approximate cost of Rs 3.5 lakh crore between April 2015 and August 2020. It is estimated that contracts worth almost Rs 4 lakh crore will be placed upon the domestic industry within the next 6 to 7 years," he had said.

"Of these, items worth almost Rs 1,30,000 crore each are anticipated for the Army and the Air Force while items worth almost Rs 1,40,000 crore are anticipated by the Navy over the same period. #AtmanirbharBharat," the Minister had tweeted.

India is second biggest arms importer and it is at 23rd rank on arms exporters list. In February 2020, PM Modi had set USD 5 billion defense export target in next 5 years and India is eyeing Rs 1.75 lakh crore turnover in defense manufacturing by 2025.